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Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o came close to winning the Heisman Trophy with an inspiring backstory about his Stanford girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, dying tragically of leukemia. But Deadspin says she never existed, and instead was the creation of a former Lancaster area prep football player who used the Facebook photo of a South Bay woman to perpetrate a massive Internet and media hoax. The media who got taken in include Sports Illustrated, Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times and just about any of the outlets that typically gush over all things Notre Dame.
Two well-done paragraphs from Deadspin:
There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te'o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te'o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te'o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te'o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te'o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral. Her favorite color was not white. Her brother, Koa, did not inform Manti Te'o that she was dead. Koa did not exist. Her funeral did not take place in Carson, Calif., and her casket was not closed at 9 a.m. exactly. She was not laid to rest.
Lennay Kekua's last words to Manti Te'o were not "I love you."
All of those non-facts were reported by one media outlet or another, per the Deadspin story.
Notre Dame says in a statement that it learned of the hoax Dec. 26, and that T'eo was a victim. From the NYT:
On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.
Dennis Brown
University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President
